A number of lofty, hard-to-reach goals lie in front of the Century Diamondbacks. Their next game could determine how many they reach.

    Century (1-2) travels to Rigby to face the 4-0 and fourth-ranked Trojans Friday at 7 p.m.

    The Diamondbacks are coming off their first victory of the season, a 38-21 road win at Blackfoot last week.

    After the first two games of the season where Century lost by a combined five points, the comfortable 17-point margin against the Broncos turned out as a nice change of pace.

    Apart from a couple second-half turnovers that flipped a 24-7 Century halftime lead to a 24-21 third-quarter nail-biter, the D-back defense controlled Blackfoot’s offense. And with senior quarterback Shane Rominger slinging fastballs to seven different receivers, the Diamondbacks’ passing game piled up 314 passing yards.

    Rigby presents a different sort of challenge.

    Century has scored 82 points in its first three games. In four contests, the Trojans have begrudgingly allowed 52, total.

    That kind of defensive production has been the driving force behind a Trojan football resurrection. Rigby’s four victories equals its win total from the previous four seasons.

    Are the Trojans for real?

    “After the four games you see on film it’s like, ‘Yeah, OK, they deserve to be 4-0. They look pretty good,’” said senior Austin Ferguson.

    Ferguson, the D-backs starting middle linebacker, will have a busy night Friday. The Trojans are a power running team. They want to establish the ground game first, and then take to the air.

    Against Skyline last Friday, however, Rigby scored a season-high 32 points and the Trojans sophomore quarterback Hayden Livingston threw for 244 yards and four touchdowns in Rigby’s 32-13 homecoming romp of the Grizzlies.

    Livingston’s touchdown tosses of 31, 59 and 22 displayed big play potential that had been missing in Rigby’s earlier contests.

    “They have a lot of good skill players, and they’re good at surprising the defense,” Ferguson said. “It’s not necessarily a trick play, but they just throw stuff most teams don’t throw out there.”

    Defensively, Rigby is an aggressive group. The Trojans want to apply pressure to opposing quarterbacks via the blitz. If Century’s protection schemes can hold up, Rominger and his speedy receivers should have one-on-one opportunities down the field.    

    Simple gameplan, right? Offense recognizes blitz, picks up the incoming linebackers and defensive backs while Rominger slings passes to receivers as they break open.

    “It seems that easy. But, no, it’s not,” said Century head coach Dave Spillett. “The receivers are going to have to get open against some tough man-to-man pressure.”

    Yeah, so it’s not that black and white. Rominger’s eyes will have to scan the field quickly, and he’ll have to unleash the pass trusting Scott Kuhn, Mason Spillett and Logan Fackrell break off from their coverage.

    So it’s Rigby’s power offense versus Century’s stiff defense. The Trojans’ blitzing defense against the Diamondbacks’ spread attack.

    With a win at home, Rigby can move to 3-0 in the 4A 5-6 District. Or Century could take an early lead in the conference race with its second win of the season.

    The D-backs aren’t shying away from the game’s importance.

    “It’s a big game. I don’t know what everyone else thinks, but for this team, it’s big,” Rominger said. “They have a lot of confidence going into this game. We have some confidence, but if we want to get to the state championship game we have to go through these guys.”